No Rush
by doublebagel
Summary: The story begins right after the end of 3x12  Poof! You're Dead . Castle and Beckett decide to go out for dinner after Castle breaks up with Gina. Oneshot.


Okay first of all this is my first Castle fic _ever_. I wrote a Fringe fic once but that was it. So please bare with me, and sorry if it's OOC ;) At first I thought I should just keep the idea inside my head but I just had to write it down. _I had to_. ugh. And, sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors!

So the story begins right after the end of 3x12. If you haven't seen the ep, just consider yourself warned. :)

And... Here it goes..

* * *

They never made it to the food truck. They're late and once they reached the place where the truck usually is, it wasn't there anymore.

"Too bad. I was really craving for some warm biscuits, now that you mentioned it."

"I know, wouldn't that be great?"

"Yeah. So, do you still wanna grab something to eat? My place is quite nearby so I can just go home, actually."

"And then what are you going to eat? Beckett, don't act as if you have food in your fridge. Last time I was there I had to throw away a package of fuzzy bacon, remember?"

'That one case.' she thought. That one case that blew her mind. That one case that left her homeless. Kate smiles. As usual, she tries to hide it.

"But I've moved. And this time the fringe is well-stocked. Don't underestimate me, Richard Castle."

"I never said I underestimated you. Ha! But guess what, I really want some pizza right now. Imagine the cheese, oozing out... melting everywhere, the ripe tomatoes, and the chewy pizza dough. Oh. Even thinking about it gives me chills. Foodgasm."

Pizza isn't really what's on Kate Beckett's mind. She wants to say no at first, but remembering that Castle just went through a breakup, well, would it be appropriate to say no? Turning him down right now won't be such a good idea. And it's just pizza, right? And who knows, perhaps Castle needs company.

"Fine. If pizza's what you want then let's go get it. There's a small pizza place around the corner."

"So, Detective, would you mind leading the way?" Castle says with a huge grin on his face, just like a 9-year old who just got a free ticket to ride the roller coaster.

Again, Beckett smiles. And once again, she tries her best to hide it. Little she knows that Castle actually did notice her smile. He always does.

* * *

After they place their orders, Kate sits down while Castle waits for their pizza. While Kate's looking out the window, gazing to the bright New York City lights, Castle stands in front of the counter and looks at her. He can't help but notice how she's changed during these past two years. She looks different, she acts different. Castle remembers the moment they first worked together, when they dealt with this case which involved murders copying the ones Castle once wrote in his book. Kate was so against him, that time, and she literally tried to get rid of him. But Castle's a good friend of the mayor, so Kate didn't really have a say in all this. Now, Kate doesn't seem to mind to have Castle around. Or at least Castle thinks so. They're good partners and he somewhat thinks that the two of them are saving the world, one murder at a time. Kind of like Mulder and Scully. Two years passed and Castle just realized how far they've come. Case after case, day after day, murder after murder.

"Hey. Two pizzas with pepperoni? Here you go. And here are your drinks. You can find the straws over there." the waiter says as he hands Castle a tray filled with pizza. Castle's bubble pops and he snaps. "Oh. Right. Thanks." He grabs the tray and walks towards Kate.

"Here you go. One for you, and one for me. Enjoy, Beckett."

"Thanks. Here's to solving yet another murder."

"Cheers."

They both dig in. For once it was silent. Beckett is actually quite curious about what happened between Castle and Gina. She knows she can't really ask him that, since she didn't actually hear them break up, well okay, she did. But she didn't mean to. It wasn't like she was eavesdropping on purpose. She simply overheard them talking. She wasn't supposed to know. Not yet. So she thought it wouldn't be really appropriate to bring it up as a topic. They can also talk about murders and stuff, but Beckett isn't really in the mood for that. She's glad enough they managed to close that last case.

"So. Motorcycle boy."

"Castle."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry."

Kate gives him her usual I-am-not-pleased look, and she says in a flat tone "What about him?"

"I don't know. What about him? How are things going?"

"Things are okay. Nothing special, really."

Castle bites into his pizza again, as if he's waiting for Beckett to say more.

"What? Well, he's busy, I'm busy. But it's good."

Beckett wipes her mouth with some tissue and drinks her coke. She feels kind of awkward, talking about Josh with Castle.

"You know, what you said earlier, the bubble thing."

"Yeah?"

"You said, the bubble won't burst too soon as long as you're with the right person."

Beckett tries to avoid Castle's eyes and she just keeps her hand busy by curling the edges of her tissue.

"Do you think he's the right person?"

'Damn.' She thought. She mumbles for a while, trying to find the right words to say. 'He is, Kate, he is the right person.' she thinks, but she can't really say it out loud. There's doubt. Deep down inside, she's not entirely sure about this. Is Josh really the right person?

"Uh. Well, uh."

"Ah, you know what, it's okay. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." Castle says with a smile.

Beckett looks down and finishes her pizza. So does Castle.

* * *

"So. Thanks for dinner."

"Ah, no problem, we went dutch anyway, so no need to thank me."

"Yeah."

"I'm the one who should thank you, though."

Kate stops right in front of her steps that lead to her door, and turns back. "Really? And why is that?"

"The thing is.. I ended things. With Gina. Before dinner and everything."

"Oh Castle I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Everything was just... fine, but I figured... that's not what I'm looking for." Castle says while looking right into Kate's eyes.

"And... uh, I just want to say, thanks for being a good company. At least I got to eat pizza and I don't have to deal with questions from my mother straightaway."

"No problem, Castle. Any time."

Kate smiles and she opens her bag to look for her keys. She finds them and walks up the steps. Castle follows right behind her.

"So, thank you, Castle."

"You're welcome."

"Good night?"

"Yeah, good night."

They both smile at each other and Castle walks closer towards Kate. Kate wants to step back - but she can't. She doesn't want to. She has no idea why. They've never been this close before, but this, somehow, feels right.

Castle's hand touches Kate's face and there's that spark. Heat. Passion. That's what making everything seem right. He leans in and he-

"Castle. Sorry. I can't." Kate takes a step back.

...

"I'm sorry, Kate." Castle breaks the ice.

"It's okay. I should probably go inside. Thanks, again." Kate walks faster toward her door, and she puts the key inside the hole, but she doesn't open the door just yet. No. She's not done. She needs to say something to Castle. She has to. This is maybe the right moment. She's been wanting to say this since last summer, but back then Gina suddenly came into the picture. This is it, Kate thought. Screw Josh. She doesn't even know if he's the right person for her or not. Maybe not. Most probably not. Kate knows that inside her heart. But she's scared. What if she's wrong? What if she's just being naive? How does she know that Castle's the right person for her?

"Hey, Castle."

Castle is about to walk away from the steps and he turns back.

"Yeah?"

"You know, when you asked about Josh, and I didn't answer?"

Castle nods.

"I don't know, Castle. I don't know. I want to think that he is the right person for me, but I can't. I don't know. I can't even convince myself about that."

Castle walks towards her, his eyes deeply gazing into hers.

"When I said I figured that whatever I had with Gina wasn't what I was looking for, it was because I realized that what I wanted has been there, right in front of me, but I just never really realized it."

Kate's speechless and she doesn't have anything to say about this. She just looks at him, while holding her bags and keys, and she waits for Castle to say something.

But he doesn't. Instead, Castle walks towards her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. He looks at her and smiles.

"You don't have to convince yourself about something that isn't true. I tried and I failed."

Kate smiles and she slowly holds his hand.

"It's okay, Kate."

Kate looks down.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Castle says.

Kate smiles. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." She grabs his hands tightly for one last time, and she finally lets go. She opens the door to her house and she walks in.

Castle waits outside until she's in and then he finally leaves. He walks under the starry sky, smiling, thinking that he's done the right thing. This is it. This is what he wants. And he's not going to rush it.

* * *

YAY! I hope you guys like it, if not then it's perfectly fine too ;) Just let me know what you think (review! :D) so next time if I ever decide to write again, I can hopefully do things better. Thanks!


End file.
